The Boot Trade

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 104, 21 February 1893, Page 2

The Boot Trade

— ■-♦-■ Tmk other day one of the stall" of the Kuinara Times interviewed Mr Suckling, the head of a well known Christrhuroh firm of boot makers, on tho subject of Protection, ;iml hi.s viows are well worthy of record ing. " Pro toction," said Mr Suckling, "inevitably leads to an increase in the number of those employed in a trade; in proportion as the tarillis heavy. It creates ovc" -crowding, ami there are to be found scores of men, very poor trades men, who are encouraged to keep on busiL^S aud ulu;'ji* \il-±' f v-. I't'.-jtldiv

would mean the survival of the fittest. We can, in the boot trade in New Zealand, compete against the world. We understand the special kind of article wanted by the colonists. By all means let the fine leathers of Europe, without which we can do nothing, have free entry. The greater variety of goods I can show a customer the more I tempt him to buy. A certain class of people will buy two or three pairs of boots where the novelty of the ' leather and the excellence of workmanship combine to excite their desire to possess. lam willing to-morrow, to compete against the world," said Mr Suckling, "if we had Freetrade in New Zealand," he added, "we should turn out far better work than we do, and I am not speaking now of the boot trade only." Our contemporary, in commenting on Mr Suckling's views, remarks :—- --" It may well be asked in view of this expression of opinion, en the part of a man whose pocket is concerned, how a Protective policy has flourished so long as it has in New Zealand. It is, of course, necessary to raise certain revenue to meet liabilities, and on that account alone is the tariff tolerated. If we are not greatly mistaken the greater portion of the New Zealand press is in favor of Freetrade, and, no doubt, when the opportunity arises, the general outcry for a return to a natural law will awaken the country to a sense of what it owes to itself, and without which its commerce will be nothing more than a name." We happen to know Mr Suckling, and can safely say that his opinions on the trade with which he is connected, as well as commerce generally in the colony, are worthy of respect.